HDMI cable question

[Sonoran49]

In 2022 I bought a Samsung TV & sound bar from Best Buy & had them set it up. It has been working very well for about 3 years. Recently I occasionally started getting an error message whenever I tried streaming a TV show using my Roku device. It pops up only occasionally but seems to have something to do with my HDMI cable. (I should have taken a pic of the screen but didn't.) So I went to BB and got an HDMI Premium Certified Cable that is rated at 18 Gbps 4K. It is 4 feet long. I replaced the HDMI cable from the Roku box to my TV. Now I am getting the video just fine but the sound bar stopped working and the system defaulted to the TV speakers. I don't have an option in my settings to switch back to the sound bar. I switched back to the 3 year old HDMI cable and the sound bar is recognized immediately and the system works just fine!

Are there differences in HDMI cables that might affect audio? The HDMI cable used by Best Buy doesn't look much different than what I bought except that it has an RF choke built into the cable. Here is my system:

Samsung - 60” Class Q60B QLED 4K smart TV
Samsung - HW-Q750B/ZA 5.1.2ch Soundbar
Roku model 4660 X2 connected to my router vis ethernet cable.

Thanks for your help.

 

[TLS Guy]

In 2022 I bought a Samsung TV & sound bar from Best Buy & had them set it up. It has been working very well for about 3 years. Recently I occasionally started getting an error message whenever I tried streaming a TV show using my Roku device. It pops up only occasionally but seems to have something to do with my HDMI cable. (I should have taken a pic of the screen but didn't.) So I went to BB and got an HDMI Premium Certified Cable that is rated at 18 Gbps 4K. It is 4 feet long. I replaced the HDMI cable from the Roku box to my TV. Now I am getting the video just fine but the sound bar stopped working and the system defaulted to the TV speakers. I don't have an option in my settings to switch back to the sound bar. I switched back to the 3 year old HDMI cable and the sound bar is recognized immediately and the system works just fine!

Are there differences in HDMI cables that might affect audio? The HDMI cable used by Best Buy doesn't look much different than what I bought except that it has an RF choke built into the cable. Here is my system:

Samsung - 60” Class Q60B QLED 4K smart TV
Samsung - HW-Q750B/ZA 5.1.2ch Soundbar
Roku model 4660 X2 connected to my router vis ethernet cable.

Thanks for your help.

Obviously the system does not like that ferrule in the cable.

I have not seen this before, but they are designed to cut RF interference transmitted by the cable.

Apparently the government interference industry are concerned that HDMI cables emit radio frequency interference. I have never heard that, and it is nonsense, but I suppose part of the government interference industry might concoct such nonsense. Anyway since an HDMI cable transmits very high frequencies putting that ferrule in the cable could easily create havoc. I find that some manufacturers are placing these in HDMI cables to pre-empt government regulations that don't yet exist. After Musk and Doge may be those were the odd part of the government interference industry that did need their employment terminated. Let us hope so. As they say: - "It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good!"
Any how, you need to get an HDMI cable without that ferrule that has no business being there as you found out.

 

[Sonoran49]

TLS Guy, I realized that my phrasing was not very clear... The old cable has the RF choke and then new one does not. So maybe the RF choke is needed for this setup. I'll look on Amazon to see if they sell aHDMI with a choke.

 

[TLS Guy]

TLS Guy, I realized that my phrasing was not very clear... The old cable has the RF choke and then new one does not. So maybe the RF choke is needed for this setup. I'll look on Amazon to see if they sell aHDMI with a choke.

I have never heard of, or seen an HDMI cable with an RF choke before. I can't imagine how that could be in anyway a good idea.

I doubt the cable is the problem. More likely the sound bar is the issue.

 

[Mr._Clark]

In 2022 I bought a Samsung TV & sound bar from Best Buy & had them set it up. It has been working very well for about 3 years. Recently I occasionally started getting an error message whenever I tried streaming a TV show using my Roku device. It pops up only occasionally but seems to have something to do with my HDMI cable. (I should have taken a pic of the screen but didn't.) So I went to BB and got an HDMI Premium Certified Cable that is rated at 18 Gbps 4K. It is 4 feet long. I replaced the HDMI cable from the Roku box to my TV. Now I am getting the video just fine but the sound bar stopped working and the system defaulted to the TV speakers. I don't have an option in my settings to switch back to the sound bar. I switched back to the 3 year old HDMI cable and the sound bar is recognized immediately and the system works just fine!

Are there differences in HDMI cables that might affect audio? The HDMI cable used by Best Buy doesn't look much different than what I bought except that it has an RF choke built into the cable. Here is my system:

Samsung - 60” Class Q60B QLED 4K smart TV
Samsung - HW-Q750B/ZA 5.1.2ch Soundbar
Roku model 4660 X2 connected to my router vis ethernet cable.

Thanks for your help.

Does anything "bad" happen other than the error message?

I get error messages from time to time when streaming with my Roku, but I but have not noticed any issues other than the error message itself (I seem to recall the messages say something about HDMI, but I don't remember for sure).

Rokus can be buggy at times.